The Swan Nebulain Hydrogen-alpha

About This Photograph

The Swan Nebula is a star-forming region in the Milky Way, in the constellation of Sagittarius. In this image, a special filter was used to isolate only the light of energized hydrogen atoms, which glow under the illumination of newborn stars within the nebula. The gas is also being forced away from the stars and running into other clouds of dust and gas in surrounding space. This causes the numerous mountainous-looking ridges, known as ionization fronts, seen throughout the image.